First, have brekky at the Langham and engage a fellow baby boomer Aussie and her daughter in polite conversation regarding the Aussie budget, health care, children (ours and hers), whether the biscuit you picked out of the buffet is a scone or not, and how a flat white (coffee but not frothed up a much as a cappucino and no chocolate) is simply deloosh. If there is one thing you can say about Rene Seabaugh, it is she is never at a loss for words - or the ability to strike up a conversation.
We found the place where you go to make the climb at the Harbour Bridge. Once you get on the right street, it pretty hard to miss.
Then back to the Circular Quay to take the tour of the Opera House. The Opera House is not only an amazing feat of engineering, it is a piece of art in and of itself.
See for yourself and tell me I am wrong. I double dare ya.
The Opera House was designed by Jorn (if I knew how to put a slash through the o in his first name, that would be quite impressive, wouldn't it?) Utzon from Denmark. They showed us several of the designs submitted in the world wide, for want of a better term, request for proposal, when the government wanted to build an opera house, and I know that in this tour, they probably want to show off how different this Opera House is, but let me tell you, I wouldn't have spent a nickel to go into any of those high school gymnasiums they showed designs of. And about all I know about opera is that Enrico Caruso played that clown in Pagliacci. And I am pretty sure Caruso was a tenor, but aren't all the male opera singers tenors and the females sopranos? All the ones I know anyway.
Anyway, the building was supposed to $7 million and take three years to build, or maybe it was $3 million and seven years, I can't remember what the guide said. But I do remember that the final cost was $102 million for a 14 year construction period. Missed it by that much.
So, about 7 or eight years into the construction, surprise, the government essentially fired Utzon due to the delays and cost overruns. He never returned to Sydney.
One of the neat things Utzon did is that he designed the Concert Hall and the Opera Theatre parallel to one another, instead of one in front and the other in back, which seemed like what most of the designers were proposing. Right next to the Concert Hall is the Joan Sutherland Theatre. I remember seeing her on The Tonight Show when Johnny Carson hosted it. I never understood what in the world she was singing, but she seemed like she was a down to Earth type. What an honor
More pictures from the inside and out.
Queen Elizabeth came down in 1973 and opened that baby up.
In 1999, the government asked Utzon to assist in advising as the architect for the Opera House. He was 82. He served until he died in 2008. His son still works for the Opera House today. Here is a picture of the Utzon Room, dedicated in 2004.
The tapestry is one of Utzon's works in the room they dedicated for him.
Louis Kahn is the architect that said this.
Yeah, pretty dramatic, but spot on. The Opera House is beautiful, and like I said, a work of art in and of itself. This is listed in the 1,000 places to see before you die. We did it and are very, very happy we did. If there is a heaven and it has an opera house, I bet it looks like this one.
On to the Circular Quay for a little lunch and to look at some shops.
Here's another one. Rather random, but entertaining nonetheless.
Found another, "oh, this is full of Australian stuff" store, and no, it isn't Rene that wants to run in and see what they have. We kept looking at our cell phones. We were scheduled to go at 2:45 and weren't going to miss it. More important to climb the bridge than catch a plane flight, and about as expensive as a plane flight. But if you miss your bridge climb, tough cookies. No refunds, no rescheduling.
We went into the building and they have this display of the famous and the rich who have made the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. Well there's Oprah, of course, Robert Deniro, Matt Damon, Keith Urban, Nicole Kidman (but not together), Bette Midler, Will Ferrell, the Boss, Richard Branson, Bill Gates (Bill hadn't shaved in a few days), Usain Bolt, Steve Coogan (whose message on his picture is funny), and a bunch of other people I can't or don't care to remember.
We have no pictures to share yet. They don't let you take any personal items but glasses and sunglasses. And those have to be tethered to the jumpsuit they make you wear. If you drop anything from those heights, if it hits someone on a boat or on land, you're gonna kill them.
Several random facts. 134 meters over the water's surface at the top of the bridge. Here's a reminder of what the bridge looks like.
Easy walk up. About 1,332 steps and 1.8 kilometers They have over 40,000 hand carved blue granite stones that wrap the bridge abutments. Bridge was finished in the 1930's and they started climbing in 1998.
You are belted in from the time you walk off the platform outside the dressing room. We were in a group of ten. A father from Sydney with his two grown daughters (it was a birthday present for each of them), a woman who lived in Sydney for years, but now lived in Brisbane (her friends gave her the climb as a gift - those friends are ones I would call keepers), two young women from New York, a father and his 13 year old daughter from Mumbai, the two of us, and Joel, our team leader. Started the climb at 3:40 that afternoon and finished up about three hours later.
We cannot begin to describe how great of an experience the climb is. It was a beautiful, sunny fall day here. About 25 degrees centigrade. Incredible views of the harbour and the city as day turned to night. An absolutely stunning sunset. There are others on the bridge to watch as you go up, then down some steep ladders on the climb. I talked to one of them and he said there hadn't been a sunset like today's in a long, long time. There is no way I can begin to describe the views and the day.
The old cliche is that a picture says a 1,000 words. We have 17,000 words on a CD with 17 pictures on it and will download it on this blog when I get back home. So, if you would like to see it, we are glad to share it with you. We were incredibly fortunate to have such a beautiful day and to be at twilight as well. This almost made the sunrise at Apollo Bay seem like it was ordinary. What a day.
On to the Blue Mountains tomorrow.
Cheers!
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